With that being said, it quickly becomes obvious Sanville isn’t just giving lip service when he talks about HBO’s “The Newsroom,” which stars Daniels as news anchor Will McAvoy.

The season finale of season 1 of “The Newsroom” debuted on Sunday night.

“The whole show has been an incredible experience,” Sanville said. “This is the best thing Jeff’s ever done.”

Sanville feels creator Aaron Sorkin does a good job of mixing the characters’ personal lives into the show.

“The writing is amazing,” Sanville said. “Being in theater, I’m actually jealous. The best writing right now is in television and the movies.

“The stuff HBO is doing and AMC is with ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ is just incredible.”

The show is based on a fictional cable news show called “News Night” and how it covers real-life events. The first season included a variety of high-profile stories from April 2010 through the summer of 2011, including the death of Osama bin Laden, the 2010 mid-term elections and the debt-ceiling crisis.

The premise of the show is “News Night” abandoning a ratings-driven approach and going back to “doing the news” again by giving voters information the staff decides they need to make the best choices on election days.

In doing so, Daniels’ character, a registered Republican, attacks the Tea Party movement because he feels the Tea Party has taken control of the party and is pushing it to a dangerous place.

Sorkin has said the show is meant to be entertainment, but if it gets people talking, then that’s a good thing. Sanville agrees.

HBOJeff Daniels stars as veteran Will McAvoy in the Aaron Sorkin/HBO show "The Newsroom." The season finale of season 1 debuted on Sunday.

“I think most people are like me – maybe you’re a little left of center or right of center, but you’re close to the middle,” Sanville said. “The Republican Party is being controlled by some radical elements right now. … I don’t think Ronald Reagan could even win the nomination today.

“It’s gotten to the point where if you’re a Republican candidate, you can’t even be seen talking to a Democrat or you’ll get slammed at the debate.”

Sanville went on to say he thinks the style of Sorkin’s fictional news show is needed in today’s world.

“You’ve got 95 percent of news organizations owned by about five guys,” he said. “You watch CNN, MSNBC and Fox, and they’re all singularly covering the issues.